Another accused in Balganga dam scam gets bail

Thane: The district sessions court on Thursday granted bail to former technocrat Vijay Kasat as the Anti-Corruption Bureau failed to file a chargesheet against the accused, arrested more than three months ago for his role in the multi-crore Balganga irrigation scam. Kasat, a section engineer with the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC), was arrested on September 3, along with the contractors of the Balganga project - Abid Khatri and his brother Jahid Khatri.While the Khatri brothers were granted bail by Bombay high court last week, Kasat remained in the Thane jail.
On Thursday, Kasat’s lawyer Shailesh Sadekar argued that the ACB had failed to file the chargesheet in stipulated three months, which makes the accused liable for bail.
Additional sessions judge VV Bambarde granted bail to Kasat on payment of Rs 25,000 or two sureties of like amount and directed him to co-operate with the ACB in the investigation, Sadekar, the defence counsel, informed TOI.
Sadekar brought to the notice of the court that Kasat was being made a scapegoat in the scam as he was only a section engineer and was not part of the official hierarchy in KIDC, which was instrumental in preparing the project estimate, unlike the other accused Rajesh Rithe.